A review by sonny
Forbidden Lovers by Kimberley Troutte

3.0

Ugh, not a good start to this sibling trilogy - two brothers & one sister, called back to their hometown by their once abusive father who has had a 180-degree personality change on them.

Anyway, oldest brother, Matt, the male MC, was kicked out of his home by his father 10yrs ago and given an ultimatum - give up his girlfriend, Julia, enter the Air Force or his father would use secret info to spread nasty rumors.

Julia is our female MC, 10yrs later, with a !gasp! 10yr old son and not much going on in her head, though she is in a constant battle w/Matt's father over some rare species of birds his new business development will kill off.

Anyway, this supposed "mystery man" the summary tries to play off is paltry because it's not kept too secret whom Matt is, except that Julia has thought him DEAD for 10yrs.

There was so much to unpack, this story unfolded all-too rapidly for anyone - even ME as a reader - to wrap their head around stuff. Especially since all this dark, depressing drama & angst had no damn follow-through.

We learn of her "dark turn" when she found out she was pregnant and then Matt's "death" 10yrs ago, but the second she learns Matt's alive...swept under the rug for a mere weekend of non-stop sex, and the promise of 4 orgasms-at-a-time. Julia is willing to give Matt up again for his dream of being a pilot and owning his own airline, also NEVER TELLING HIM HE HAS A SON!

And then, Matt's past abuse from his parents is...swept under the rug, explained away easily by his father's mental "disorder" [not clear what he suffers from] and that his mother was simply a cruel woman who hated people of a lower, poor class...whatever.

Matt didn't even have much care that he'd been lied to by MANY people, not just his father but his mother and several people in town. Also letters he'd sent to Julia [and ones she had sent back] had been returned with no explanation.

Also, when Julia finally reveals he has a son...NOTHING! Just happy to know the boy he's grown to like and adore is HIS.

No anger, no drama, no angst...just blah!

What was there for me to even care about if everything just fixed itself?

Such a low-bar for angst but such gravity given to the dumb drama created 10yrs ago and everyone simply sweeps it under the rug for the LOVE of a cute couple and their final HEA.

Hopefully, the rest of the books in this trilogy take their damn time! We saw a little bit of the next 2 siblings so...fingers crossed!